Workshop 4200 is Chicago's CREATORSPACE™

Origin Story

Chicago is the city of big shoulders, home to creative, passionate, hard-working people with big dreams. These creators are too often scattered across the city, making the physical distance a barrier towards sharing ideas & building on each others' creative energies. In 2015 we launched Workshop 4200 as Chicago's much needed home for all kinds of creators: makers, builders, artists, teachers, performers, designers, engineers, and innovators. As the first-ever CREATORSPACE™, Workshop 4200 has developed into a productive, inspiring environment that encourages the creative spirit of innovation.

History

Innovation, Industry, and Chicago Gospel

Workshop 4200 is housed in the former Hammond Organ Factory building, a place that once bustled with craftsmen and engineers meticulously assembling a new era of instruments that would go on to change the course of musical history. It all began in 1934 when Laurens Hammond filed a complex patent for a new type of musical machine, a device so innovative for the time that Henry Ford, the nation's foremost industrialist, ordered six organs before a single one had been built and offered to back the company. After being featured in Chicago radio station broadcast in 1929, the Hammond Organ gained popularity in black gospel churches near 4200 W Diversey. This popularity gave rise to a whole new kind of music, now known as Chicago Gospel. The organ's significance in this style of gospel led to its prominent usage in jazz music, its eventual adoption by other genres, and made Hammond a household name in America.

Welcome to the Workshop

A NOTE FROM US TO YOU

This is just the beginning. As the first ever CREATORSPACE™, Workshop 4200 is a unique place for artists, artisans, and creators of all stripes. It's a place where connections are made & collaborations are born. As the first 'test' of a big idea, Workshop 4200 is a living social experiment based on the notion that creative small businesses do better when they are supported & encouraged, both by those with resources to help them succeed and by their creative peers. As we look ahead, we know we will keep on creating, collaborating, and dreaming big. The Workshop vision can't be contained by walls, it is bigger than any one of us, and we can't wait to share it with you. -The Workshop 4200 Team